U.S.-Brokered Ukraine Talks Yield Prisoner Deal, No Peace Breakthrough

Two days of Russia-Ukraine talks under U.S. mediation ended Wednesday in Abu Dhabi without a settlement of the nearly five-year war, though the two sides agreed to a prisoner swap that the American envoys called the biggest of the conflict. Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and special envoy, said the swap should cover more than 1,000 prisoners on each side, with the final numbers to be set Thursday.

Kushner said the exchange would "reunite families, build trust, and create momentum toward peace." He told reporters he could see the ingredients of a deal, but said the territorial dispute remained unresolved and would be the hardest issue to settle. "These deals are very hard and complex, and this one is very emotional, very complex. It's a very hot war," Kushner said. Russian officials said the exchange could take place within two to three weeks.

The Abu Dhabi sessions were the first three-way talks among the United States, Russia and Ukraine since February. Kushner and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff led the American delegation. Davyd Arakhamia, a senior Ukrainian negotiator, said there had been "really big progress" on some issues and that he saw "good momentum" toward a settlement by year's end. He said the next round should be multilateral, with Europe represented.

Russia's chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, took a harder line in public. He said Russia would be content with the talks only once peace arrived on its terms and that "every inch of our land will be returned to Russia, one way or another." He described the central goal as building a new security system for Europe that would serve as "a new Yalta and Potsdam," a reference to the 1945 conferences at which the victorious Allied powers divided postwar Europe into spheres of influence.

European governments sent representatives to Abu Dhabi, where they consulted with the American and Ukrainian delegations. Medinsky said Moscow had no objection in principle to European participation. He added that it was unclear what Russia and the European Union had to discuss, given what he described as a lack of European proposals. A German government spokesperson said Wednesday that agreements could not be implemented without consensus among NATO members.

After the talks ended, Kushner said he and Witkoff would fly to Moscow on Thursday and brief President Vladimir Putin on the discussions, then push for progress on issues where "we see some openings and some opportunities." The envoys then planned to fly to Dublin to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and possibly European leaders. Kushner said the meetings with both presidents would address whether European governments could join the negotiations and make them multilateral.

A central sticking point is the eastern Donetsk region, most of which Russia occupies. Ukraine wants to freeze the front line and keep the territory it still holds there, which Kyiv considers essential to its security. Moscow has refused to drop its demand for all of Donetsk.

Russia's delegation said European security was the main subject of the second day, and its proposals to restructure the continent's security order have deepened concern in European capitals that Washington and Moscow could strike agreements affecting Europe without them. Zelensky said Wednesday that he did not think European security could be discussed "without Europe."